---
lang: en
title: "AI sorting and grading by type, colour, grade or code"
url: https://nabrio.com/use-cases/sorting-and-grading
canonical: https://nabrio.com/use-cases/sorting-and-grading
updated: 2026-10-27
publisher: Nabrio Co., Ltd. (nabrio.com)
---

# AI sorting and grading by type, colour, grade or code

Nara classifies each product by type, colour, grade, code or printed text, and tells the PLC which bin or lane it belongs in. Colour and code sorting works out of the box; product types and quality grades are trained in Reva.

- Sectors: [Manufacturing](https://nabrio.com/industries/manufacturing.md), [More sectors](https://nabrio.com/industries/more-sectors.md)
- What it takes: Trained on your items. We train a model on your own products or defects in Reva, and Nara runs it on the line. Colour and code sorting works with built-in tools.
- Products: [Nara](https://nabrio.com/nara.md), [Reva](https://nabrio.com/reva.md)

## The problem

Sorting products by type, grade or destination by hand is slow and inconsistent.

## How it works

- **Input:** Camera over the line
- **Process:** Classify by type, colour, grade, code or text
- **Action:** The PLC drives the sorting mechanism to the correct bin or lane

For colour and codes, Nara’s colour detection, thresholds, code reader and OCR classify each item with no training. For product types and quality grades, a classification model trained in Reva does the job. A switch/case node maps each class to a bin or lane and writes it to the PLC, which drives the sorter.

## What you need

- A camera over the line, with consistent lighting
- A PLC controlling the sorting mechanism, reachable over Modbus or TCP/IP
- For types and grades: labelled images to train a model in Reva

## Nara building blocks

- Camera nodes
- Colour detection and thresholds
- Code reader and OCR
- Classification model (Reva)
- Switch / case
- Modbus to PLC

AI models: [Barcode and QR code reading](https://nabrio.com/nara/ai-models.md), [OCR (text reading)](https://nabrio.com/nara/ai-models.md)

## What it improves

- Sorting throughput
- Grading consistency
- Manual labour

## Where it runs

- [AI vision added to an existing conveyor](https://nabrio.com/customers/conveyor-sorting-retrofit.md) (A conveyor system operator)
- [Chili powder graded by colour, with no training data](https://nabrio.com/customers/chili-powder-colour-grading.md) (A food producer)

## Frequently asked questions

### Do we need deep learning for grading?

Not always. Our chili powder grading deployment uses Nara’s colour detection and thresholds, with no training data. Grades that depend on shape or texture are trained in Reva.

## Related use cases

- [Visual quality inspection](https://nabrio.com/use-cases/visual-quality-inspection.md)
- [Barcode and label inspection](https://nabrio.com/use-cases/barcode-and-label-inspection.md)
- [Item and pallet counting](https://nabrio.com/use-cases/item-and-pallet-counting.md)

Talk to us about sorting and grading: sales@nabrio.com. [Download Nara](https://nabrio.com/download.md).